iPhone Photo Dump

Swingin' with Daddy...

My pretty little disaster...

Halloween costumes in February? Why not?

Say "Cheese!"

Museum Day with my Bug...

The beauty of getting to the museum at exactly 10 a.m. on a weekday.

Her first time eating Dirt & Worms (Mommy might have had a bite or two!)

Just chillin' in the ball pit:

A playground date with my little guy:

First time on the big swings!

It required lots of concentration.

A trip to the zoo with Uncle Dot:

C & J's First Time at Church

We ventured out to church on Saturday evening...not our first time since having the twins, but our first time to actually take the twins. I found out that Charlotte and Jensen's beloved preschool teacher, Mrs. Clark, teaches in the nursery during the Saturday evening service! How did I not know this before?? All this time, we'd been afraid to drop the kiddos off at the church nursery because of Charlotte's anxiety with strangers. Needless to say, they both did great when we dropped them off...they saw Mrs. Clark and marched right into the room. Their friend Hunter from their class at school was there, too. Brian and I both enjoyed the service (not to mention not having to worry that our kids were in good hands). We will definitely be going back.

I tried to get some pictures of them before their first time at church, but of course they were having none of it:

Two Toddlers. One Leopard-Print Hairbow.

Charlotte decides she's had ENOUGH of her leopard-print bow.

Jensen decides he must have the leopard-print bow and will take his sister out in order to make it his.

He finally gets it...only to be crushed when he can't make it stay on his head.

A little help from mommy and he's lookin' good.

"Check the bow, mom!"

Love this goofy little dude.

Noses are Red, Charlie is Blue...

Well, the most exciting part of our Valentine's Day occurred this afternoon when my poor little Bug tripped and fell in the backyard. Unfortunately she landed on her nose on the (metal) base of our hammock. A little bit of blood and a lot of screaming later, I could see that she had landed on her nose...I think she is going to wake up with a bit of a bruise tomorrow! Fortunately she's a tough little cookie so she resumed playtime after just a few minutes of snuggles.

I'm a slacker mom this year and didn't even get my kiddos Valentine's outfits or gifts (aside from the gifts I gave their little pals at class, which they got also). I blame my slacker-ness on the fact that we've had three doctors appointments in the past two weeks and the most recent one revealed that Jensen's ear infection had turned into a ruptured eardrum. So we have been a bit preoccupied! Fortunately for me, the kiddos were spoiled by their grandparents. And I did remember to dress them in red!

My sweet boy.

And my sweet girl...still a happy Bug even after her little accident.

I think the highlight of the day for the kiddos was receiving Grandma's gift...some Elmo books and their very own broom and mop! Fun stuff!

The stinkers decided that for their post-nap snack they absolutely HAD to have corn. Then they decided to go ahead and dump out the corn onto the living room floor so they could sweep it up with their new broom. It went well.

All in all, it was a fun day with Charlotte and Jensen. I am not much of a Valentine's person, but I am looking forward to celebrating the day with the stinkers when they get just a bit older...they make me pretty happy, especially when I get smiles like this:

That Just About Sums It Up

I'm recovering nicely from our traumatic Target experience. I even went back yesterday while the stinkers were at school...I strolled the aisles, basking in the quiet and uneventful-ness of my outing, all the while keeping an eye out for our cashier from the other day. Thankfully I didn't spot him...perhaps he was getting fitted for hearing aids after the damage he suffered from my children and I going through his checkout line.

Anyways, here is a drawing that our second-grade neighbor did on our driveway. She comes over to play with Charlotte and Jensen all the time, and knows their personalities fairly well. When she depicted them in chalk on the driveway and decided they should each be saying something, she naturally came up with this:

Jensen is saying, "Uh-oh!" and Charlotte is saying "Wah, wah!" (Crying.) Yep, the eight-year-old neighbor has summed up my children in just four words*. Gotta love it!

*I should clarify that Charlie is a happy little Bug about 90% of the time...but when she's not happy, everyone knows it. Including the neighbors. Apparently her dramatic fussing has made an impression on her little second-grade friend.

The One Where All Three of Us Cry at Target

We went to Target today. No surprise there, as going to Target is pretty much an everyday occurrence for us. This time, we pulled up to the store and parked, only to discover that the stroller wasn't in the car. Since there were a few things we really needed, I decided to go ahead and brave the store in one of Target's double carts.

The calm before the storm.

I HATE these carts with a passion, and I hate the fact that if you have two kids of a cart-necessitating age, this is the only option you have. No side-by-side doubles like at Costco, and no super-fun double cars like at other grocery stores. There are several fatal flaws in the design. The first? Look at the kids' knees. They are touching. They are all up in each other's business, they are crowded, and you can bet that it doesn't take long for the kicking to start. The second is that the kids are seated well below the parent's eye level. The third is that the carts are as long as a freaking bus and extremely hard to steer (and this is coming from someone accustomed to double strollers).

Anyways. We shopped in peace for awhile, then the kids started demanding a snack...no big deal. So we got our snacks and finished piling what we needed into the cart. When it was time to check out, there were only two check-out lanes open and both were several shoppers deep. So I picked one and as we waited, the kids started to lose it. First they started fighting over their snack. Then they started asking for water. Seeing no other option, I grabbed them a bottle of water from the check-out line and tried to help them drink it. This lead to them screaming at ME because they wanted to hold the bottle themselves, then screaming at EACH OTHER because each felt it should be his or her own turn to hold the bottle, then screaming IN GENERAL because they both ended up dumping water all over themselves. And the floor. And as all this is happening, I have nowhere to go. I'm stuck with my groceries on the conveyor belt, a shopper behind me, and the woman in front of me taking her sweet time checking out, using her debit card, and getting cash back.

When it was finally our turn, the kids were still screaming. I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with anyone. I couldn't look around for fear that someone I knew was there, watching. I wanted the floor to swallow me up (but please leave my screaming kids behind). The cashier (a teenage boy, of course...not at all sympathetic to the mom of two) did not say ONE WORD to me. Which made me feel both irritated and thankful, because I think if he had asked me how I was doing I would have either burst into tears or said something extremely sarcastic. And does anyone else find it interesting that when both kids are behaving and acting nothing but sweet, I get comments like "You have your hands full!" and "God bless you!" and "Double trouble!" and yet when they are behaving horribly I get nothing?? I guess everyone was just too busy steering clear of us to offer their witty comments.

We finally made it to our car, leaving a trail of water puddles and ringing ears behind us. It was one of those situations where if you don't laugh, you cry. And I really was just too embarrassed for laughter. So I cried. And as luck would have it, Brian had come home early for lunch and was waiting when we got home. He looked at our soaking wet children and my face and tried to remain calm until I could tell him what happened. He refrained from laughing at me, helped me get the kids their lunch, and assured me that I'm not a bad mom and I don't need to find a new Target (although he did suggest I wait a few days before returning to ours). (And on that note, if you or someone you know saw me in Target today, please don't ever tell me. Ignorance is bliss, people.)

In addition to our Target fun, today also included three toothbrushes thrown in to the bathtub, a jumbo-sized bag of pretzels spilled on the pantry floor, our first-but-probably-not-last incident of crayon drawings on the wall, and a grumpy little boy who (despite visits to the doctor last Wednesday AND Saturday) cannot seem to shake whatever is bothering him.

Is it tomorrow yet??

Singleton Day (Yep, Again!)

This time it was unplanned, and not that much fun for poor Mr.Jensen. The kiddos have had runny noses for a few days now, but had been acting totally fine. But Tuesday night, my buddy took a major turn for the worse and became feverish, grouchy, clingy and whiny. Completely unlike him...and then the crying started. I would hold him and he would just cry and cry...at one point, his little lip quivered like it did when he would cry when he was a baby. Of course this was all too much for me and caused me to tear up a bit myself! I cannot stand seeing him that way. Tylenol didn't do much good and we were up for a lot of the night...finally at about 5 a.m. I brought Jensen to our bed, where he slept until almost 7 (the best sleep he had all night).

By the time we made it to the doctor in the morning, Jensen's fever was over 103. Strep tests and RSV tests were negative (thank goodness) but a quick check of his ears showed that they both had pretty nasty infections. Fortunately my mom didn't have anything major planned for the day, so off to Grandma's house Charlie went so I could care for my patient. Our first stop was the Sonic drive-thru for a special treat: Mr.Jensen's first milkshake.

Without further adieu, here are lots of pictures of my kiddo drinking a milkshake. Because he's really cute. And those eyelashes are ridiculous!

After lunch, I finally got Jensen down for a nap. But he wouldn't go down without a fight...and by that, I mean he refused to wear pants. I guess he was hot! So he slept pants-less and I hoped for no accidents or diaper removal.

Love those little legs!

Today my little guy is still not back to himself, but he's getting there. It continues to amaze me how difficult it is, both physically and emotionally, to have a sick child. But sometimes it comes with a little extra blessing, and in this case, it was seeing my little man in our bed. The last time either Charlotte or Jensen slept in our bed was when they were one month old and had strep throat. So when I brought Jensen into bed, I wondered whether Brian would object. But as I laid Jensen down between us, he slowly reached out his little hand to take Brian's...and as I watched Brian curl his fingers around Jensen's tiny hand, I think my heart just about exploded with love. It's hard to put into words how tough this parenting thing is, but it's impossible to put into words how amazing it can be.